Peaky Blinders

The Peaky Blinders were an urban street gang based in Birmingham, England, active from the early 1890s to the 1930s. The group grew out of the harsh economic deprivations of working-class Britain, and they recruited young, unemployed English, Irish, and Romani men into their ranks. They gained their nickname from their habit of wearing razor blades in their trademark peaked caps, which they could use as weapons against their rivals. In 1910, the Birmingham Boys under Billy Kimber overtook the Peaky Blinders after a dispute over the Peaky Blinders' involvement in racecourses, but their name lived on to describe several other gangs in the Birmingham underworld. One of these, led by Tommy Shelby, would become the most powerful gang in the city.